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N0. 6l0,360. Patented Sept. 6, I898.

J. M. LE ROY & M. D. CONVERSE. I

NAIL EXTRACTOR.

(Application filed Aug, 25, 1897.) (N 0 M 0 d e l 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

FIG. I;

flTTE-ST INVEN TOR-5.

No. 6l0,360. Patented Sept. 6, I898.

J. M. LE ROY &. M. D. CONVERSE NAIL EXTRACTOR.

(Application filed Aug. 25, 1897.)

2 Sheets-Sheet '2.

(No Model.)

. MEL $85. j 87% TH: NORRIS P-ETERS co FMOTO-LITHQ. WASHINGTON. u. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT rricn.

JULIET MEECH LE ROY AND MASCI-IIL D. CONVERSE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNORS, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO JOHN J. TOWER,

OF SAME PLACE.

NAl L-EXTRACTO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 610,360, dated September 6, 1898.

Application filed August 25, 1897. Serial No. 649,420. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern.- Be it known that we, JULIET MEEOH LE ROY, residing at New York, (Brooklyn,) county of Kings, and MASCHIL D. CONVERSE, residing in the city and county of New York, State of New York, citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Nail-Extractors, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Throughout this specification what we term the base-line or floor-line will be understood to mean a right line with which the extreme end of the gripping edge of the jaw formed on the fulcrumed part and the lowermost point on the under curved surface of the fulcrum are respectively in contact. What we term the transverse center line will be understood to mean a line drawn vertically on side elevations at right angles to'said baseline or floor-line and intersecting the latter at the point of contact therewith of the extreme end of the said gripping edge, and the term rearward will be understood to mean that side of said transverse center line on which the fulcrum is located, and the term forward that side of said transverse center line opposite the fulcrum.

Our present invention relates to nail-extractors provided with tubular rams.

Nail-extractors provided with a tubular ram have been made with a lever-shank, jaws, and fulcrum operatively pivoted by a transverse bolt or rivet located rearward of the hereinbefore-defined transverse center line of the tool. Of necessity nail-extractors so constructed require that both jaws be driven into the wood simultaneously, and consequently involve the delivery of many and very forcible strokes from the ram, which, being very destructive to the life of the tool in consequence of the crystallizing action on the pivoted parts and the pivot-bolt, soon renders them easily broken. To provide against this, these pivoted parts have been made large and stocky of proportions. This,

however, makes operation of thetool very laborious and really does not improve its durability, because increased inertia of these parts calls for greater force and repeated blows from the ram.. The provisions made for holding this type of nail-extractors while operating the same has been such as to expose one hand of the operator to accidental injury from contact of the lower end of the ram. The objects of our present invention are to overcome these difficulties and at the same time to simplify and reduce the cost of the manufacture of such tools, which ends we attain by means of a pivot having a s peciallydefined functional position and by the novel form,construction, andfurther novel arrangement and combination of the respective parts of the tool, as hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of ourimprov'ed nail-extractor complete, illustrating the distinctive construction of our invention and phases of its operation. Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5 are side elevations illustrating modifications of one part thereof, Fig. 2 also showing phases of our invention.

Like letters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures.

The dotted lines 7c is in the several figures indicate the hereinbefore-defined base-line or floor-line and the dotted lines ,2 z the hereinbefore-defined transverse center line.

A is a lever-shank, constructed of oval cross-section to reduce its weight, provided with curved jaw H, having a gripping edge I) and a transverse hole through its hub portion for the non-adjustable pivot D.

B is a fulcrum having a curved jaw I, gripping edge e, and a bulged handle 0, attached thereto or integral therewith and overhanging the same, provided with a transverse hole through its hub portion for the non-adjustable pivot D, the axial center of said pivothole in this part being directly on the vertical transverse center line hereinbefore defined.

The two gripping edges 0 and b are equidistant from the axial center of the pivot D.

IVe prefer to construct the. gripping edge I) on the lower end of the lever-shank A, so that it will be directly on a straight line drawn 5 ram E when the jaws are opened to stride the nail and insures oblique delivery of blows from the ram, as well as certain contact of the gripping edge c with the body of the nail under its headin the operation of driving the same into the wood.

E is a tubular ram, of oval cross-section, with suitable handle G, and having a socket 'i, also of oval form, the lower endJ of which is more elongated than those commonly used and is purposely so made to embrace and sheath the lever-shank A, and thus support the same against bending or breakage under strains incident to use and in order also to increase the length of strokef'and consequently augment the force of impact in the ram E by added momentum, whereby fewer strokes from the latter are necessary to embed the gripping edge 0 in the wood.

on is a nail with its head flush with the floor-line 7t 70.

I By reference tothe drawings it will be seen that in our improved nail-extractor the defined position of the pivotal axis is directly on the transverse center line and vertically of both gripping edges 0 and b when they are normally closed, as in Fig. 2, and always vertically of gripping edge a; but it will be understood that the same cannot be located at any point rearward of said center line and perform such function, and it will be further seen that nail-extractors constructed with the pivotal axis located forward of the herein-defined transverse center line (as in Letters Patent No. 7,316, reissued September 26, 1876) are defective, since the direction of the percussive force required to embed the gripping edge in the wood is in such case necessarily exercised on a line through the pivot forward of the transverse center line and beyond and forward of the gripping edge, which consequently causes the tool to roll;

forward upon the under and outer curved surface of the jaw oppositely the fulcrum, and also causes the extremity of the fulcrum to kick upward violently, which undesirable actions are further aggravated by the close proximity to said gripping edge of the lowermost points of the rolling fulcra, as shown in 3 this example.

The modifications shown by Figs. 2, 3, 4,

and 5 are all in respect of the manner of connecting the handle 0. In Fig. 2 this handle is shown as connected at f curvilinearly wit-h the fulcrum B, near the extreme end lthereof, and having its vertex terminated conoid- 3 but in this case it is joined to the hub portion of the jaw H of the lever-shank A, its 3 outer conoidal end being slightly more ele vated than in Fig. 3 to allow of freedom to We employ a non-adjustable pivot-bolt or rivet and fit it snugly within the pivoted parts, because in the use of adjustable or loosely-fitted pivot-s in nail extractors we have found that the secondary percussion communicated in consequence speedily destroys alinement of the gripping edges, and thereby soon renders the tool inefficient or useless. Moreover, the use of anon adj ustable pivot and the construction of the gripping edges of equal distance from the axial center thereof greatly facilitate the operations of properly forming up and finishing these edges in the manufacture; but so constructed the gripping edges if made sharp are liable to breakage under the cramping strains incident to rotation of the tool on its fulcrum in the operation of extracting the nail. Therefore to obviate this we construct these transverse gripping edges 1? and c with semicylindrical faces, whereby they are pre-' vented from biting so deeply into the lateral sides of the nail, and consequently will readily accommodate a change of angle of impingement thereon, since one or the other, or both, will slip up or down, but without entirely releasing frictional hold of the nail.

The operation of our invention is as follows: The operator with one hand grasps the tool by the handle 0, (instead of by the levershank A, as in other nail-extractors,) his fingers being passed through the open space L, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and by the handle G of the ram with the other hand, as shown in dotted outline, same figure. Now this handle 0, overhanging the fulcrum Bin the manner shown, removes the hand thereon from allliability to be injured by the lower end of the ram E, as it is not in near proximity thereto, and by having unobstructed f view of the gripping edge a he is able to quickly adjust the same beside the nail. As the gripping edges 0 and b are now opened to stride the nail-head, the edge I), being the same distance from the pivot as the edge 0, will by reason of the hereinbefore-defined location of the pivotal axis be instantly carried up pendently out of contact with the floor-line, so that and without any tendency to roll forward but the one gripping edgeto wit, ccan possibly be first driven into the wood, and which, being easier of accomplishment than the driving of both jaws at once would be, does not require so many nor so forcible strokes from the ram, greatly conserving the durability of the tool, and, moreover, this consequent diminished liability to IIO crystallization permits lighter construction 7 throughout Without impairing efficiency and at the same time rendering the tool less laborious to use. The gripping edge 0 having been driven into the Wood and under the nail-head, as shown by dotted outlines in Fig. 1, cramping the ram. and lever-shank over rearward to the position shown by dotted out-lines thereof in the same figure forces the gripping edge 1) into thewood on the opposite side of the nail without necessity of further use of the ram, and continued movement of the levershank and ram rearward extracts the nail.

It will be understood that though the levershank A is of slender cross-section We are able by our provision for hand-space elsewhere to .prevent the same from bending or breaking by an elongation of the tubular end of the ram to embrace and sheath it.

We have described no special means for securing the ram to the lever-shank, as any suitable means may be employed.

We are aware that nail-extractors and tackpullers have been made with levers attached to the fulcrum part designed to be jointly with the lever-shank embraced, or jointly with the fixed handle of the lever-shank em-- braced by one and the same hand or by the thumb or a finger of that hand while holding also the lever-shank or the fixed handle of the lever-shank, as in Letters Patent Nos. 457,925 and 145,837, respectively, though in no case for the same specific purposes for which we employ the handle 0 in a position overhanging the fulcrum in our inventionto wit, to absolutely prevent cutting or bruising of the hand by the lower end of the ram and incidentally provide for elongation of the tubular end of the ram, and consequently reduce the area of cross-section of the leverthe transverse center line z z of the toolwith the longitudinal center x 00 of said lever-shank, as respectively herein defined,

the proportion and shape of the jaws being such'that the jaws are closed when the levershank-is vertical so that the lever-shank must be tilted forward to embrace the nail and so that, when it is so tilted, the lever-shank jaw Howwill be above the base-line, substantially as and for the purposes shown and described.

2. In a nail-extractor of the type described, a handle projected from one of the pivoted parts within the radial plane of their hub portions on the fulcrum side and overhanging said fulcrum longitudinally in a position diagonal to the lever-shank A and suitably removed from said fulcrum and said levershank and adapted to be independently e1n-' braced by one hand only exclusive of other parts of the tool, substantially as and for the purposes shown and described.

J; MEEOI-I LE ROY. MASOI'IIL D. CONVERSE. Witnesses:

WM. A. FERGUSON, GEORGE JEFFERYS. 

